Monday, February 09, 2009

Verizon's Parallel Universe

Photo from TV screen showing Verizon's map. Click to enlarge.

Google's correct map of central Colorado.

Verizon must live in a parallel world from the rest of us. A commercial they are running in their "Dead Zone" ads for Verizon Wireless shows what is easily recognized as a map of central Colorado. But wait...something's very wrong here!

First of all some towns are right where they should be. Others are totally in the wrong place. For example, we see Central City, Castle Rock, Golden, and Brighton in their correct locations. But Colorado Springs has become Walden. Boulder is now Pueblo. Durango and Craig are relocated as well.

Also, the highways are horribly misnumbered. Some of the US highways are fine...US 50, US 24 and US 285 for example. But there is now a US 666 in place of US 36. (By the way, the real US 666 was decommissioned and renumbered US 491, and ran through the far southwestern part of Colorado). Then the Interstate highways are all messed up. US 70 is numbered on Verizon's map as I-40 east of Denver (which is not named on the map at all), and as I-50 to the left of the man and outside this photo of the TV screen. I-25 is now I-36. I-36 doesn't even exist, and if it did, it would be an east-west route, not a north-south one.

So the question becomes, why didn't Verizon just use a correct map, or even a totally fictional one, rather than jumbling up a map of a real place? Weird, ain't it?